Wednesday, June 24, 2009

All Horizon Organic products are produced without the use of antibiotics, added growth hormones, or dangerous pesticides. In addition, organic processing practices maintain the integrity of food without using preservatives or irradiation.No Antibiotics

Antibiotics are important in the fight against disease and infection, but they become less effective over time if they are used incorrectly or excessively. Therefore, the widespread use of antibiotics on healthy animals may lower their effectiveness in helping treat human illness. Organic farmers approach herd health holistically, treating animals without the use of antibiotics or hormones.

The Union of Concerned Scientists estimates that of the 35 million pounds of antibiotics administered each year in the U.S., 70% goes to healthy livestock to stimulate growth and prevent disease. This massive usage could help develop super-strong strains of drug-resistant bacteria that can spread to people. Developed countries around the world, except for the United States and Canada, have set regulations restricting such use.

For these reasons, the World Health Organization has recommended repeatedly that antibiotics used on humans not be prescribed to promote livestock growth. And in June 2001, the American Medical Association went on record opposing the use of antibiotics in agriculture for non-therapeutic use in healthy animals.(1)

No Added Growth Hormones

Horizon Organic cows are never given added growth hormones. While growth hormones naturally occur in all milk, non-organic dairy cows may also be injected with additional growth hormones (rBGH/rBST) to increase milk production. Several countries in Europe as well as Australia, New Zealand, Canada and Japan have already banned these hormones because of concerns regarding their potential effect on human and animal health.(2)

No Dangerous Pesticides

In order for their land to be certified organic, farmers must not apply synthetic fertilizers, dangerous pesticides or other toxic and persistent chemicals to their land for three years prior to certification or anytime thereafter. That's why organic production greatly reduces the presence of pesticides in foods. Since pesticides have been used in conventional food production on a widespread basis, for a long time and because they linger in the environment long after application, there is no guarantee that any foods are pesticide-free.

However, a 1998 Consumer Reports study concluded that fresh fruits and vegetables labeled organic had either no pesticide residues or fewer, lower-level pesticide residues compared to those produced conventionally. Another study published in Food Additives and Contaminants found that conventional produce, when compared with organic produce, was three times more likely to have any pesticide residue and six times more likely to have residue from multiple pesticides.(3)

The issue of pesticide residues is particularly pertinent to children, who consume more food per pound of body weight than adults. They are also likely more sensitive to the effects of pesticides and other chemicals in food, due to their rapidly developing nervous systems.

A study from the University of Washington and published in Environmental Health Perspectives found that children who ate a predominantly organic diet had far lower levels of pesticide residue in their bodies than the children who mostly ate non-organic foods. In fact, the children who ate more non-organic foods had pesticide metabolite levels six to nine times higher than those on organic diets.

The cows that produce milk for Horizon Organic are fed 100% certified organic feed. In addition, the other ingredients in our products, including the fruit in our yogurt products, are grown on organic farms that do not use dangerous pesticides.